List of transcontinental countries

A map of transcontinental countries, countries that control territory in more than one continent.

Contiguous transcontinental countries.

Non-contiguous transcontinental countries.

Countries whose transcontinental status depends on either the legal status of their claims or the definition of continental boundaries used.

This is a list of countries located on more than one continent, known as transcontinental states or intercontinental states. While there are many countries with non-contiguous overseas territories fitting this definition, only a limited number of countries have territory straddling an overland continental boundary, most commonly the line that separates Europe and Asia.

The boundary between Europe and Asia is purely conventional, and several conventions remained in use well into the 20th century. However, the now-prevalent convention, used for the purposes of this page, follows the Caucasus northern chain, the Ural River and the Ural Mountains. It has been in use by some cartographers since about 1850.[1] This convention results in several countries finding themselves almost entirely in "Asia", with a few small enclaves or districts technically in "Europe". Notwithstanding these anomalies, this list of transcontinental or intercontinental states respects the convention that Europe and Asia are full continents rather than subcontinents or component landmasses of the larger Eurasian continent.[original research?]

Asia and Europe

Since there is no significant geographical separation between Europe and Asia north of the Black Sea, the border between the two is largely an arbitrary, historical, and cultural construct. An often cited definition of the Europe–Asia border is said to follow the Aegean Sea, the Turkish Straits, the Black Sea, along the watershed of the Greater Caucasus, the northwestern portion of the Caspian Sea and along the Ural River and Ural Mountains to the Arctic Ocean.[2][3] These delineations, however, are not definitive. For instance, the National Geographic places Cyprus entirely in Asia, and its geomorphology is similar to Asia; however the country is politically a member of the European Union, and it has an ethnic majority of Greek speaking Greek Cypriots and minority of Turkish speaking Turkish Cypriots. Similarly, although Georgia lies on the arbitrary Europe–Asia border, it is generally considered to be part of Europe.[4] A further complication arises from the fact that Siberia lies east of the Ural Mountains, but is not politically, geologically, or culturally distinct from European Russia.[5]

The Turkish city Istanbul lies on both sides of the Bosporus (one of the Turkish Straits), making it a transcontinental city. Çanakkale is also a Turkish city situated on two continents. Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey are transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia by any definition except that of Eurasia as a single continent. While Russia is historically a European country with a history of imperial conquests in Asia, the situation for Turkey is inverse, as that of an Asian country with imperial conquests in Europe. Kazakhstan is also a transcontinental country by this definition, its West Kazakhstan and Atyrau provinces extending on either side of the Ural River.[6] Despite its bi-continental placement, Kazakhstan's physical, cultural, and geographic characteristics are more similar to those of the other Central Asian countries.[7]

This Ural River delineation is the only segment not to follow a major mountain range or wide water body, both of which often truly separate populations. However, the Ural River is the most common division used by authorities,[2][6][8] is the most prominent natural feature in the region, and is the "most satisfactory of those (options) proposed"[9] which include the Emba River, a much smaller stream cutting further into Central Asian Kazakhstan. The Ural River bridge in Orenburg is even labeled with permanent monuments carved with the word "Europe" on one side, "Asia" on the other.[10]

Historical variations

The threefold division of the Old World into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BC, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus. The boundary between Europe and Asia is somewhat unique among continental boundaries because of its largely mountain-and-river-based characteristics north and east of the Black Sea. Europe can be considered more of a subcontinent within Eurasia in de facto terms, and it has sometimes been referred to as such.[11]

Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni) in the Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on the Black Sea coast, through the Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BC.[12]

North and South America

The most common demarcation in atlases and other sources follows the Darién Mountains watershed divide along the Colombia-Panama border where the Isthmus of Panama meets the South American continent. This puts Panama entirely in North America and mainland Colombia entirely in South America.

Europe and North America

Greenland: Greenland is a country within the Kingdom of Denmark, fully located on the North American tectonic plate and close to the mainland, and is considered to be geographically part of North America. Although it is politically associated with Europe and internationally represented by a European country (including in the Council of Europe), it is autonomous. Historically and ethnically, its native population is of American tradition, although it also shares cultural links with other native peoples bordering the Arctic Sea in Northern Europe and Asia (today in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia), as well as in North America (Alaska in the U.S., Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada). Greenland was part of the Danish territory and within the territory of the European Union, but voted for a larger autonomy and is now excluded from it.

Iceland: Iceland is on the fracture line splitting the Northern Atlantic Ocean between the North American plate and the Eurasian plate. Measuring to the North American island of Greenland, Iceland is much closer to North America than it is to Europe; however it is over twice as close to mainland Europe as to mainland North America. Using a plate tectonics definition, Iceland would qualify as a transcontinental country. However, "continents" are defined by conventions that predate any knowledge of plate tectonics, even though many of the plates are named for the continents that occupy them. Geographically, ethnically, historically, and culturally, Iceland is commonly considered to be European and not transcontinental. Iceland is a full member of the Council of Europe (but still not in the European Union, to which it could qualify).

Portugal: Continental Portugal is in Europe, while the Azores archipelago (also associated with Europe) has two islands (Corvo and Flores) that are part of the American plate. This might make Portugal a tricontinental country (with Madeira on the African plate) except for the fact that continents, as already noted, are not defined by tectonic plates.

Asia and Oceania

Australia: The Commonwealth of Australia consists of its namesake continent and island possessions associated with Oceania, Asia, and Antarctica. Its Indian Ocean island possessions of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are associated with Asia. The majority of Australia's Asian island residents have Asian ancestry and are Muslim or Buddhist.

Japan: All of Japan consists of Asian islands except for the remote Bonin Islands, also known as the Ogasawara Islands, which are Pacific islands administered by Ogasawara, Tokyo.

North and South America

Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago: The sea islands division of South America and North America is complicated. All Caribbean islands are often labeled as North American, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands countries of Aruba and Curaçao, and the Dutch special municipality of Bonaire lie on the continental shelf of South America, and can be considered South American as well. What complicates it even further is that the islands of Trinidad and Tobago lie on two continental shelves. The southern half of Trinidad lies in South America and the northern half of Trinidad, and Tobago, lie on the Caribbean plate. All these islands have closer cultural ties with North America.

These examples have integral parts associated with other continents. Norway, South Africa, and the United Kingdom may also be considered transcontinental by virtue of their distant island possessions or territories associated with a continent other than where the country is based.[clarification needed]

See also

References

^The question was treated as a "controversy" in British geographical literature until at least the 1860s, with Douglas Freshfield advocating the Caucasus crest boundary as the "best possible", citing support from various "modern geographers" (Journey in the Caucasus, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Volumes 13-14, 1869). In 1958, the Soviet Geographical Society formally recommended that the boundary between Europe and Asia be drawn in textbooks from Baydaratskaya Bay, on the Kara Sea, along the eastern foot of the Ural Mountains, then the Ural River to the Mugodzhar Hills, the Emba River, and the Kuma–Manych Depression (i.e. passing well north of the Caucasus); "Do we live in Europe or in Asia?" (in Russian).; Orlenok V. (1998). "Physical Geography" (in Russian).. Nevertheless, most Soviet-era geographers continued to favour the boundary along the Caucasus crest. (E. M. Moores, R. W. Fairbridge, Encyclopedia of European and Asian regional geology, Springer, 1997, ISBN 978-0-412-74040-4, p. 34: "most Soviet geographers took the watershed of the Main Range of the Greater Caucasus as the boundary between Europe and Asia.")

^ abNational Geographic Atlas of the World (9th ed.). Washington, DC: National Geographic. 2011. ISBN978-1-4262-0634-4. "Europe" (plate 59); "Asia" (plate 74): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea with its outlets, the Bosporus and Dardanelles."

^European Parliament, European Parliament Resolution 2014/2717(RSP), 17 July 2014: "...pursuant to Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – like any other European state – have a European perspective and may apply to become members of the Union provided that they adhere to the principles of democracy..."